ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The ongoing environmental destruction that results from the continuous use of the woodland resources for
economic purposes has caused extensive changes in the original vegetation of Goba area of southern
Mozambique. Developing alternative sources of income for communities can reduce their dependence on
the production of charcoal, building materials and wood carvings. The lack of infrastructure and remoteness
of these localities from the markets make alternatives economically unfeasible and thus unsustainable for
rural development. Ineffective policy planning that does not address the problem in a holistic way causes
the dilemma of local people in remote areas. The challenge at Goba is to develop alternative livelihoods
that are economically, socially and ecologically sustainable. Nature-based tourism has been identified as
such an alternative to realize this goal. However, this development requires incentives for sustainable
resource use, which can be created either by expanding the benefits accruing from the efficient use of the
resource or by changing the distribution of the benefits and cost in favor of the users.
In many cases, local communities have developed tourism initiatives in ecologically fragile, remote areas,
without sound planning based on detailed ecological and socio-economic information. Uncontrolled flows of
tourists in unplanned tourist destinations degrade these areas. These destinations lose their aesthetic
appeal; tourism flow decreases and consequently new attractions are opened. This study is of a land use
planning nature and follows a combination of existing framework tools.
The primary aim of this study was to develop simple guidelines for nature-based tourism that contribute to
the conservation and management of the rural woodland areas as well as to the improved socio-economic
welfare of rural communities in the Goba area. The study used baseline information for planning, focusing
on the tourism market and on the ecological and socia-economical aspects of the siudy area. Two
strategies were used to obtain the information, namely market research and attraction resources analysis.
The market research in the southern part of Mozambique shows that: International tourist flows are at
present from Southern African countries mostly South Africa (more than 50%), North America, Europe and
Australia or Asia. Mozambique is perceived mainly as a sunny beach destination for vacations and
weekends though most of the tourists were engaged in multi-destination itineraries that included safari,
wildernesses, bird watching, touring and curiosity. There was no evidence from any tourist that nature
tourism was the reason to visit Mozambique, but many of them said that they would visit ecotourism and
nature tourism destinations if available. The average daily expenditure per tourist was found to be US$47.
Tourists from long-haul distances had higher disposable expenditures and stayed longer in both attraction assets and in the country. Sixty nine per cent (69%) of surveyed tourists were over 50 years of age and
they were mostly males (57%).
The results show clearly that many issues must be taken into consideration where the development of
ecotourism and nature-based tourism, especially in rural areas, is concerned. Such considerations should
include (i) careful planning of the destinations based on the local developmental policy; (ii) developing
saleable tourist products and packages and (iii), promotional strategies to expand the market to capture
tourists with high average daily expenditure. The rural communities can then have a chance to develop
nature-based tourism that uses outstanding natural resources.
The resources analysis study results revealed that: The rugged topographic, climatic conditions of Goba
water catchment area and the distance from settlements have naturally preserved local forest resources
from human utilization. The area has well conserved and differentiated natural scenic landscape. These
scenic landscapes have recreational values as well as environmental contrast, scientific discovery potential
and retention of vanishing biological species. To preserve or improve the management of these
landscapes, it is essential to consider recreation use in relation to all other potential values. Few existing
landscapes showed a relative ability to absorb impacts produced by facility development with a minimum
negative effect on the visual and ecological quality of the landscape. The majority of the landscapes have
some potential for primitive and sensitive recreational spectrum.
All these results are consistent with results from similar studies on watershed and water catchment
ecology. Given the constraints on the environmental settings of the Goba landscapes, it is recommended
that the basic and logic framework development should attract tourists interested in the more primitive
portion of the recreational spectrum and should have fewer facilities of small-scale building. These facilities
should be rustic in character with less service and more emphasis on self-reliance. Improved management
of the Goba ecosystem is needed to maintain the ecological functions of the catchment and local culture
and rurality.
In conclusion, this study suggests that, if on these remote fragile ecosystems local communities can protect
and market attractive quality-of-life-amenities, maintain a relatively low cost of living, and offer serviceable
links to global telecommunication infrastructures in order to attract tourists and retirees, these communities
can survive and may even thrive as local economies. An incentive planning method and sustained
extension outreach effort in rural development, which focuses on nourishing local action at the grassroots
level, will complement such a policy strategy.